Monday, February 22, 2016

Post-Race Report: Davis Stampede Half Marathon

My first race of the year is in the
books. Last year the Davis Stampede Half Marathon was insane, heavy rain
from start to finish. It was so bad that my shoes had about an inch of
water in them for almost the whole race.The weather this year was beautiful. It was 43 degrees at the
start of the race.I would be lying if I
said I wasn’t cold before the race though.

I was wearing my Ampla Fly shoes, Balega
Hidden Comfort socks, Opedix Dual-Tec 2.0 ¾ length tights, and a Nike Dri-Fit
tank top under my SLS3 Team tri-top.The
Ampla Fly shoes have a spring type flange in the front of the shoe.I found that my form was better and I was
able to push off better because of the shoes.They worked great on paved surfaces, but I had issues with them on the
gravel section of the course. More on that in a bit.The Opedix tights were great as well.The compression in specific areas really
helped my running form in the later miles.

I started off the race with the plan
to stick with the 1:50:00 group, which would get me a PR.I actually stated off a little faster than I
had planned, but made sure that I wasn’t going crazy.I was about 20 seconds faster in that first
mile.The first three miles were really
good.I had some minor tightness in my
Achilles tendon, but nothing too bad.

I was fairly consistent the whole
race with my pace, cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contract time, and
stride length.I did have some issues
around miles 7 & 8 where we had to run on a gravel path (for about 2 miles).It had crushed rock and some of the rocks
were rather large.The Ampla Fly shoes
have a carbon fiber bottom between the midsole and the outsole, they do not
flex like most shoes.My foot was
rolling from side-to-side and it was really hard on my ankles and hip
flexor.While my times don’t look like they
took a big hit, the gravel probably cost me 1-2 minutes down the road because of
the extra effort expended.

Split (Mile)

Time

Avg Pace

Avg Run Cadence

Avg Vertical Oscillation

Avg Ground Contact Time

Avg Stride Length

1

08:04.2

8:04

172

8.5

248

1.16

2

08:14.3

8:14

170

8.6

247

1.15

3

08:09.1

8:09

170

8.8

245

1.16

4

08:20.1

8:20

170

8.8

247

1.13

5

08:21.5

8:22

169

8.9

245

1.14

6

08:09.5

8:09

169

8.9

244

1.16

7

08:23.6

8:24

169

9

245

1.13

8

08:33.8

8:34

169

9.1

247

1.11

9

08:17.9

8:18

169

9.1

248

1.15

10

08:33.4

8:33

169

8.9

251

1.11

11

08:21.8

8:22

170

8.9

251

1.13

12

08:19.1

8:19

170

8.9

250

1.14

13

08:28.6

8:29

170

8.9

250

1.11

0.2

01:48.3

8:02

162

8.8

267

1.24

Summary

1:50:05

8:19

170

8.9

248

1.14

I have taught myself to run strong
on hills and it really paid off in the race.I never lost sight of the 1:50:00 pace group.They were 50-100 feet ahead of me for most of
the race.I would reel them in when we
went up hills and even when my legs were tired, I knew that I needed to keep
the pacers within my sight if I would have any chance of catching them.

I was closing in on the pace group
in the last ½ mile.I was probably
within about 50 feet of them.With ¼ mile
to go, we turned onto 3rd Street and the finish line was in
sight.One of the two pacers dropped
back a little and gave me a little encouragement.He said “This is yours.Go catch them.”I was really tired, but pulled every ounce of
energy I had left and picked up my pace.I not only passed the 1:50:00 pacer, but kept pushing until I crossed
the finish line.

I firmly believe that there were a
few things that led to my PR.

1) I followed the Hal Higdon Advance
Half Marathon Plan (for the most part).

2) I cross trained with cycling

3) I was eating better and lost 17
pounds since January 1st

4) I train with people who are stronger
and faster than I am

My running partners Ferdinand and Robert

I am grateful for the opportunity to
run and for the support that I receive from my friends, family, blog readers,
and especially my wife.I have learned
that with hard work, anything is possible.I am also proud to be racing for Team SLS3 this year.My next race is the Lucky Run Half Marathon
in Davis on March 19th and I will be shooting for another PR.